The organic movement has been an easy butt for those in the media who prefer to dismiss its adherents as aging hippies, their progeny and those who have been raised on Pete Seeger and the spirit of Haight-Ashbury.
This [Hartman Group] report demonstrates they can no longer regard shoppers frequenting Whole Foods supermarkets, health-food stores and organic stands at farmers’ markets as a minority without influence who come from a well-heeled Wasp background.
It finds that consumers are driven to seek out organic produce by fear of the impact of additional hormones in food products on their children’s health.
Where in 2000 only 29 percent of customers frequented health and natural food stores to buy organic foods, now 49 percent are opting to shop in these. Sales of organic produce from general supermarkets have slipped from 63 percent in 2000 to 58 percent last year. But they have risen from 9 percent to 15 percent in supercenter and discount stores.
This news should warm the cockles of Wal-Mart’s heart. It told The New York Times Friday it wanted to democratize organic foods and will be selling it for only 10 percent more than non-organic foods.
It may be less encouraging to Whole Foods, whose price difference between what it terms ‘conventional’ and organic can fall between 20 and 30 percent higher.
However, its Chief Operating Officer Walter Robb staunchly told The Boston Globe recently, “I think that Wal-Mart doing this is an incredible endorsement and also shows the size of the market opportunity is even larger than we thought.”
The core of this topic probably should concern your own confidence in the stores where you shop for groceries. Having some experience repairing what Wal-Mart defines as acceptable in maintaining infrastructure — I wouldn’t buy bottled water from them.
My wife and I purchase a range of organic, natural, wild and/or conventional food products from two chain stores. One is Whole Foods. The other is Trader Joe’s — price competitive with your average supermarket chain. Our local farmers market is superb — and getting to know the farmer you’re buying fresh food from is incomparable.
I guess I’m saying that confidence in the quality of what I’m consuming is more important to me than saving the very last penny on every purchase. I wouldn’t own a crap computer or TV or camera either.
Here’s my overriding concern with Organic, though – until someone can prove otherwise, how would we feed the over 6 billion people on earth without some man-made additives?
And if the stuff is so bad for us, then why is it that people keep living longer lives? How soon we forget that only 100 years ago 2 out of 5 kids died by age 5 and the average life expectancy was all of 50 some years.
Quality is nice, but last research I saw said that if we went all organic that 1/3 of the earths people would die. I guess they would be the Africans and other poor slobs, and who cares about them anyway, right?
http://www.wolvaners.com is a site for the micro brewed Vermont “organic” ales. They have been doing it for a long time.
As someone who helped here on the East Coast with the cooperative food buying culture here in the 70s and 80s (I worked for the area coop distributor warehouse) “organic” food is not the only thing that we were trying to profess.
We were trying to show people that buying their food in bulk could save them money. We not only carried a line of organic foods, but also carried the commercial equivalent of what one would call “Health Foods.” We were trying to educate people, so that they could organize small buying clubs, or larger food Co-Op storefronts, and have the items that they really wanted, but could get nowhere else.
Some parts of our philosophy have taken off, while others have not. It seems that people prefer the convenience of a big box store, to that of a small local grocer. Many buying clubs went by the wayside, when these stores started popping up with a “natural foods” section in them.
The organizational part has survived in some areas. There are a few local Co-Ops, even two in my local area that still thrive today. People share in the work, and upkeep of the place, and those who cannot, pay a little more. It gives the folks a feeling of purpose, and ownership in their community, and helps to build the local community, and make it strong. It provides a necessary service, and is not linked to any single large corporation.
I say a single large corporation, because the smaller suppliers of goods have been gobbled up by larger companies. This made it impossible for the warehouse to survive. I think that some of our long term goals have been accomplished though
#1: I just buy whatever, so I don’t have a big ideological stake in this debate, but I don’t understand your argument.
Considering we’re pretty much paying farmers to grow less in this country, scarcity of food isn’t really an issue here. As for hunger in Africa, same thing. We could be producing more and shipping it there if we really wanted to. I don’t think the most adamant of organic boosters would let people starve if the only realistic alternative was non-organic foods.
Why are we living longer as opposed to 100 years ago? How about improvements in medicine or even simply in sanitation and hygene? Just because the net result of everything is longer lives doesn’t mean individual factors aren’t bad. Here’s a study saying how mass produced fruits and vegetables have been declining in nutritional value. And here’s one that says organic fruits and vegetables are not.
Sounds like whatever you read was very biased and using a bunch of scare tactics.
Check out the book “The Omnivores Dilema’by M. Pollan it gives a look at what our cheap food policy in the U.S. has done to distort our eating habits.Now that the Goverment has put a label on what is “organic” things will really get screwed up.
We have come full circle. On the shelves these days we see free-range chicken eggs and in the cooler, grass fed beef. Back in the old days, the free range chickens ranged around the farmyard and most of what farmers fed their cattle was grass. But now, with mass production of most everything, we have a new paradigm, a return to the past, if you will, to the roots where we came from.
Back when (way, way back) people had to forage for their food, whether it be gathering flora or stalking fauna, it took time and lots of energy. The energy burned calories and the calories weren’t cheap. So, people were healthier to an extent – at least they weren’t obese. They ate when they were hungry – really hungry. Probably many small meals during the day. Now, with everything just a “trip to the store” and relatively cheap, we burn less calories and the calories themselves are cheap (in more ways than one). Our society has become a bunch of cows standing in stalls complacently eating corn waiting for the final slaughter – MOO. Now, “organic” and “natural” foods are on the shelves at very premium prices and everyone is flocking to them like it is “something new” – EUREKA they cry. We have the collective social memory of a 2K chip these days…
you wont buy bottled water from walmart? why would you buy bottled water from anywhere?
youre just getting tap water at about a thousand times the cost
mike, you’ve obviously never tasted the tap water in Las Vegas.
I don’t buy bottled water anywhere. Just an analogy.
We shop at Whole Foods from time to time, and they’re getting ready to open a Trader Joe’s here in Atlanta (but not close to us). We used to shop at Wal Mart for groceries because of how cheap it was. But to be honest, when Kroger started increasing their supply of organic items a great deal, we use Kroger for 85% of our grocery shopping now. We only pick up groceries at Wally World if it’s late or there’s something else I want to pick up at the same time, like a DVD, a video cable, etc. And Wal Mart doesn’t always have the brands that we look for or like. And frankly, if you’re there at the “wrong” time, it takes forever to check out.
YOu’ve never tasted the water in Harford County, MD. It sucks. I filter it for taste, at the very least.
The next door county, though, has excellent water.
Water is so hit or miss. Aruba’s water was AWESOME. How I miss Aruba….
Walmart entering the organic food sector? This should be worth a few Daily Show segments.
With their clout in DC, the definition of organic can be legally changed to “contains less than 80% petrochemicals and carcinogens”. “Organic” will become more of a ad term than it already is, and somebody will have have to think up a new buzzword like “Walnot Organic” to separate the wink-wink organics from the stuff than might really be old school organic.
This is going to suck for Range Rover class organic consumers. Shopping at Whole Foods won’t be nearly as much of a culinary oneupsmanship opportunity as in the past since the hand polished, pesticide free, naturally grown olives for their free range Martinis will also be available to Uncle Ned in the Appalachian Outback. But they will still be able to find some peace in paying Whole Foods the roll-up $19.99 a jar vs. the roll-back $19.90 Uncle Ned would spend if he gave a rats ass about organic.
The good news with organics is that you can wash the turdiness off, which isn’t the case with hexachlorobenzene, mercury, triazine, dioxins and PCBs….
I shop at Whole Foods, because their selection tastes better.
Same reason that when I want a steak, I order it from Omaha steaks…
Being from a ranch/farm family, that has grown real organic foods for the Whole Earth and for niche markets all over the west for many years, I can say…..I’m healthy…..lol
We have always raised grass fed prime beef, but my Dad basically stopped selling 2 years ago, but we are still big time into organic veggies and *lost* grains. My brother runs the farms now and has been gathering food grains that the native indians in the southwest and in south america used to grow, but aren’t grown much anymore. He sells to mostly small independent bakeries in the west.
Since we have been here in the bay area, it’s easy to get real, honest organic, but expensive. Be glad to go back home.
That does it. I am going to open up an organic ethical gas station brand. Green Gas. …Or Whole Gas…. One born every second…. Jim’s gas cooperative, feel good about your fuel purchase. No gas from countries that underpay their etical partners. What a load of BS…. organic shmorganic….
I make my own organic beer. The taste is great, and there are no chemicals involved. I have noticed most organic foods have much more flavor then the traditional supermarket brands. Please “Relax, have a homebrew”.